On March 25th, 1977, the Mid-Coast Radio Project was born and was incorporated by a few individuals who supported starting a community radio station – as a Not for Profit Corporation under the laws of Missouri.
The original bylaws for the incorporation of Mid-Coast Radio certified by the board secretary on 5/10/77.
Resisting the chains of bylaws and organizational structure, key early member, “Ace” Mason, published an anarchical rant to members on the dangers of making the group stratified like the ancient Egyptians!
After incorporation the group of radio and media enthusiasts got together to set up a Communiversity course called “Radio Free Kansas City” for exploration of the idea of a citizen-owned, non-commercial radio station. The Communiversity was a free-university under the auspices of the University of Missouri Kansas City. People from the community could offer courses where ordinary people could enroll ranging from pottery, to investment strategies for a small fee. A quarterly catalog was put out of courses, and “Radio Free Kansas City” was offered several times.
The first sessions, organized by David Dye, drew about 57 participants. Soon the group adopted the name, “The Mid-Coast Radio Project”. This nomer was chosen as a rejection of the fact that all media are developed and dominated by the East and West Coasts of the United States. Some people whimsically also offered that there had originally been an ocean in the Kansas City area millions of years ago. (In fact, when the eventual KKFI radio station went on the air, it sometimes logged on as, “. . .from the floor of the Inland Sea”.
New logos and newsletters were created to foster the efforts.
Soon the group starting publishing newsletters explaining what community radio is to encourage people to get involved.
A first “fact sheet” was created.
In August, the Kansas City Star published an article about the possibility of putting a community radio station on the air in Kansas City. Little did the people know who were involved that it would take over 10 years to put the station on the air.
All kinds of possible radio programs were discussed and proposed in 1977.
To get the organization going and make people aware of what community radio could be, several concerts and benefits were carried out during 1977. Efforts to publicize the events were carried out.
Promotional materials like bumper stickers and T-Shirts were created.
